Petition Letter
Dear Associate Dean, Queen's University,
My name is Aleksander Magi, and it is with a heavy mental and emotional burden that I am contacting you in regards to appealing a Requirement to Withdraw. from classes for one year. Unfortunately, before I construct an appeal for that matter I must construct an appeal to waive the 21 day deadline to fix the situation that I have gotten myself into. The research I have been doing to ensure my appeal is successful has been extensive, as I hold a high amount of pride wearing Queen's Colours, and knowing I have a home in Kingston with so many young and promising likeminded individuals brings so much joy to my day to day. A joy to which I have been fighting for a little bit harder as of late. So this letter is to ask to allow me to submit a late appeal of my Requirement to withdraw for one year.
Growing up, I never really knew or understood what I wanted from my life, or where I wanted it to take me. One thing however was certain, that being that from a young age I wanted my life to be shaped by studying at Queen's University. Throughout my entire youth I have been extremely competitive in Sailing. Having raced in beautiful destinations around the world, I found myself drawn to Kingston; being the Freshwater Sailing Capital of the World. My brother and I, along with countless friends amassed over the years have grown up in Kingston. With multiple competitions every year, and an opportunity to train in one of the best sailing venues in the world, we would all ship out from Toronto once school was out for the summer. Either staying in Queen's Residences such as Leggett Hall or Vic Hall, or subletting a student house for the summer. The campus became a glowing representation of Academia for a younger me. I would often find myself walking around wondering how it was possible to have a school not only look so beautiful, though enjoyable to be at for its students. From that period on, I was hooked. I didn't want to tour Western or UofT. Did not want to drive out to Montreal to see McGill. I knew where I belonged, and years later when I would get my Offer of Admission for the Arts and Science Department I was ecstatic. It would be an even greater feeling when I was welcomed onto the Queen's Sailing team, and came full circle with the beautiful city of Kingston. Now I was able to represent the people and the school that I so wanted to be apart of.
First year however was met with quite a large amount of dismay for myself and my family as I knew it. In October of 2017, it was brought to my attention from my Dad that him and my Mother would be getting a divorce, and all of our family worldly possessions would either be split up or sold. This was coming off of a Grade Twelve year where I had to move up to Wasaga Beach from Toronto due to my Mothers agenda, which we would later find out to be an elaborate scheme to live her own life without having to worry about a family. No more time with friends back home as I had to commute to school, and no more childhood home. This tore apart my home life and already had me in bad spirits going into my Freshman year. When October 2017 came around it was made apparent that everything would be gone, and nothing would be the same. When I got home in April, I was met with nothing short of a disaster. Pets had been given away, my Father and young brother depressed living in a small apartment. My mother no where to be found or held accountable. It was a shell of the life I had when I left. The summer followed suit, and with mental health declining I entered my second year. I hoped that being in Kingston and away from any issues would ensure a better environment for me. For the first couple of weeks, I was back on track. Going to my classes, enjoying time with old and new friends, exploring some of the amazing landmarks that the Kingston Area has. Though as October came, the year anniversary of the news that had broken me down, there I was again in a pit of despair. Finding myself with too much pride to admit what was wrong with me, I tried to continue my studies with severe mental instability. Feeling depressed and anxious at every turn, I longed to be the happy teenager I once was before this mess unfolded. In addition, October meant the first rent pay period at school, which was met with threats from my Mother about paying, and that I was responsible for this; a fact that I was not aware of until it was time to pay. The year was a lot of that. On every first of every month, it was a struggle to ensure I had a roof over my head as my Mother was too wrapped up in her own world to care about what was best for her son, and my Dad was going through too big of a situation to help me as best he could. The embarrassment I had while letting my roommates down was one of the worst feelings have had to date. Only a few individuals knew about what condition I was in at the time, including my Dad and Brother, and my Girlfriend. Though other than that, it was pretty much me on my own. One saving grace was my Fundamental's of Marketing course in Fall semester. The course instructor Professor John-Kurt Pliniussen was one of the most influential people I have met, and helped me through my academic struggles to the best of his abilities. I put a lot of work into the course, acquiring an A-. I will not sit here and pretend like before University I was a straight A student. Like any person, I am better at some aspects of Academics than others. I do believe that the amount of work I put into this course, and the accomplishment that followed with my grade is the level of effort and intelligence I am able to exhibit. Unfortunately I could not do this multiple times over during these troubling times, and experienced myself failing multiple courses, bringing my grade point average below the 1.6 requirement. Leading me to where I am now, begging for the opportunity to study at Queen's once again this fall.
The matter of this letter however as stated before, is to waive the 21 day deadline to address the issue at hand. All summer I have been moving both my Mothers house and my Dads across the GTA, or working 12 hour days as a high performance sailing coach. I have had very little time for myself and the only silver lining of this is that all summer my Dad, my Brother and I have been getting our lives back on track to move on to what lays ahead. A different dynamic, though the same family I need. We are back living in a house that we are used to, and a stable environment is waiting back home for me if I were able to continue my academics this year. I am in a much better mental state this year, and am extremely eager to redeem myself. I do believe that the stress and unfortunate circumstances laid on me these past years have played a huge part in my scholarly decline. Being a member of the Queen's Sailing Team, I have felt the joy of making my University proud and bringing home championships. This has allowed me to continue the discipline that I have for Athletics and Academics that I know are imperative for success, and in my endeavours I keep the Universities Core Values at heart: Honesty, Trust, Fairness, Respect and Personal Responsibility. I am here accepting Personal Responsibility for the actions that I have taken to bring me to this point, though I ask of you with the most humble spirits to allow me to submit a Late Appeal with a detailed Academic Plan as to what my next few years would look like. I ask for your Trust in me to continue to make the University proud through not only Athletics, though the progress I make in my studies. Queen's is my home, and I want to prove that I am still worthy to be a member of the community.
Yours Truly, Aleksander Magi
My name is Aleksander Magi, and it is with a heavy mental and emotional burden that I am contacting you in regards to appealing a Requirement to Withdraw. from classes for one year. Unfortunately, before I construct an appeal for that matter I must construct an appeal to waive the 21 day deadline to fix the situation that I have gotten myself into. The research I have been doing to ensure my appeal is successful has been extensive, as I hold a high amount of pride wearing Queen's Colours, and knowing I have a home in Kingston with so many young and promising likeminded individuals brings so much joy to my day to day. A joy to which I have been fighting for a little bit harder as of late. So this letter is to ask to allow me to submit a late appeal of my Requirement to withdraw for one year.
Growing up, I never really knew or understood what I wanted from my life, or where I wanted it to take me. One thing however was certain, that being that from a young age I wanted my life to be shaped by studying at Queen's University. Throughout my entire youth I have been extremely competitive in Sailing. Having raced in beautiful destinations around the world, I found myself drawn to Kingston; being the Freshwater Sailing Capital of the World. My brother and I, along with countless friends amassed over the years have grown up in Kingston. With multiple competitions every year, and an opportunity to train in one of the best sailing venues in the world, we would all ship out from Toronto once school was out for the summer. Either staying in Queen's Residences such as Leggett Hall or Vic Hall, or subletting a student house for the summer. The campus became a glowing representation of Academia for a younger me. I would often find myself walking around wondering how it was possible to have a school not only look so beautiful, though enjoyable to be at for its students. From that period on, I was hooked. I didn't want to tour Western or UofT. Did not want to drive out to Montreal to see McGill. I knew where I belonged, and years later when I would get my Offer of Admission for the Arts and Science Department I was ecstatic. It would be an even greater feeling when I was welcomed onto the Queen's Sailing team, and came full circle with the beautiful city of Kingston. Now I was able to represent the people and the school that I so wanted to be apart of.
First year however was met with quite a large amount of dismay for myself and my family as I knew it. In October of 2017, it was brought to my attention from my Dad that him and my Mother would be getting a divorce, and all of our family worldly possessions would either be split up or sold. This was coming off of a Grade Twelve year where I had to move up to Wasaga Beach from Toronto due to my Mothers agenda, which we would later find out to be an elaborate scheme to live her own life without having to worry about a family. No more time with friends back home as I had to commute to school, and no more childhood home. This tore apart my home life and already had me in bad spirits going into my Freshman year. When October 2017 came around it was made apparent that everything would be gone, and nothing would be the same. When I got home in April, I was met with nothing short of a disaster. Pets had been given away, my Father and young brother depressed living in a small apartment. My mother no where to be found or held accountable. It was a shell of the life I had when I left. The summer followed suit, and with mental health declining I entered my second year. I hoped that being in Kingston and away from any issues would ensure a better environment for me. For the first couple of weeks, I was back on track. Going to my classes, enjoying time with old and new friends, exploring some of the amazing landmarks that the Kingston Area has. Though as October came, the year anniversary of the news that had broken me down, there I was again in a pit of despair. Finding myself with too much pride to admit what was wrong with me, I tried to continue my studies with severe mental instability. Feeling depressed and anxious at every turn, I longed to be the happy teenager I once was before this mess unfolded. In addition, October meant the first rent pay period at school, which was met with threats from my Mother about paying, and that I was responsible for this; a fact that I was not aware of until it was time to pay. The year was a lot of that. On every first of every month, it was a struggle to ensure I had a roof over my head as my Mother was too wrapped up in her own world to care about what was best for her son, and my Dad was going through too big of a situation to help me as best he could. The embarrassment I had while letting my roommates down was one of the worst feelings have had to date. Only a few individuals knew about what condition I was in at the time, including my Dad and Brother, and my Girlfriend. Though other than that, it was pretty much me on my own. One saving grace was my Fundamental's of Marketing course in Fall semester. The course instructor Professor John-Kurt Pliniussen was one of the most influential people I have met, and helped me through my academic struggles to the best of his abilities. I put a lot of work into the course, acquiring an A-. I will not sit here and pretend like before University I was a straight A student. Like any person, I am better at some aspects of Academics than others. I do believe that the amount of work I put into this course, and the accomplishment that followed with my grade is the level of effort and intelligence I am able to exhibit. Unfortunately I could not do this multiple times over during these troubling times, and experienced myself failing multiple courses, bringing my grade point average below the 1.6 requirement. Leading me to where I am now, begging for the opportunity to study at Queen's once again this fall.
The matter of this letter however as stated before, is to waive the 21 day deadline to address the issue at hand. All summer I have been moving both my Mothers house and my Dads across the GTA, or working 12 hour days as a high performance sailing coach. I have had very little time for myself and the only silver lining of this is that all summer my Dad, my Brother and I have been getting our lives back on track to move on to what lays ahead. A different dynamic, though the same family I need. We are back living in a house that we are used to, and a stable environment is waiting back home for me if I were able to continue my academics this year. I am in a much better mental state this year, and am extremely eager to redeem myself. I do believe that the stress and unfortunate circumstances laid on me these past years have played a huge part in my scholarly decline. Being a member of the Queen's Sailing Team, I have felt the joy of making my University proud and bringing home championships. This has allowed me to continue the discipline that I have for Athletics and Academics that I know are imperative for success, and in my endeavours I keep the Universities Core Values at heart: Honesty, Trust, Fairness, Respect and Personal Responsibility. I am here accepting Personal Responsibility for the actions that I have taken to bring me to this point, though I ask of you with the most humble spirits to allow me to submit a Late Appeal with a detailed Academic Plan as to what my next few years would look like. I ask for your Trust in me to continue to make the University proud through not only Athletics, though the progress I make in my studies. Queen's is my home, and I want to prove that I am still worthy to be a member of the community.
Yours Truly, Aleksander Magi